


Walking beachwear ad

by plikki



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Identity Reveal, Shirtless Adrien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24403492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plikki/pseuds/plikki
Summary: Secrets are revealed, drinks are spilled and shirts removed. Plagg is going to be sorry he missed this chaos.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 25
Kudos: 277





	Walking beachwear ad

**Author's Note:**

> InkyCoffee presented me with Adrien's thought process when he realises that Marinette is Ladybug up until the point when he takes off his shirt and after I died laughing I had to come up with details like the trigger for the reveal (food, is anyone surprised?) and the aftermath (she told me there was probably going to be kissing so I delivered). So I think it's safe to say this work is a collaboration between us two. I hope you enjoy it!

They were all at the park, using their free period to soak up some sun. Everyone was lying on the grass, talking about nothing in particular. Adrien welcomed the chance to spend time with his friends. Until the conversation turned to a very interesting topic.

“You ever wonder what Ladybug and Chat Noir’s kwamis eat?” Alya asked. Adrien tried not to snort, Plagg and his eating habits were the last thing he wanted to discuss with anyone. 

“That’s easy, I think. It’s cheese, since that’s what Ms Mendeleiev used to lure them that one time she was trying to catch them,” Alix said next to her.

“But do all kwamis eat the same thing?” Rose asked then. Alix must have wanted to answer that but couldn’t without giving away the fact that she knew that Fluff ate carrots. 

“The more interesting question is what kind of cheese do they eat?” Mylene asked then. “Or is it any kind?” Oh, he wished it was that easy, really. 

“I have a feeling that Chat Noir’s kwami would go for something disgusting, like Camembert,” Marinette piped in, startling Adrien. How could she make such an accurate guess? 

“Poor Chat then, it mustn’t be easy, smelling like Camembert all the time,” Alix said, shuddering. Yeah, he could say the same thing.

“What about Ladybug’s then?” He couldn’t resist asking, he was curious to hear their suggestions.

“Oh, I’m sure Ladybug’s kwami has a more sophisticated taste. It must prefer something more refined than cheese, maybe macarons?” Marinette said, smiling. 

It was such an innocent suggestion. To anyone else, it would have seemed like a shot in the dark. But he knew better. He looked more carefully at Marinette, while her discussion with the girls continued, and he felt his heart beat faster.

Ladybug had met Plagg and had seen him eat Camembert at Master Fu’s. That much he knew from the kwami’s account of the fight against Style Queen. So, one point to Marinette for guessing this. It could have been a lucky guess. 

But then again, Adrien had also listened to Plagg complain about sharing a macaron with Tikki that one time they were trapped by the Dark Owl and had to transform. Again, it could have been a lucky guess. But two times? And also, when he thought about it, who had an unlimited supply of macarons but Marinette whose father made the best ones in Paris? He was sure Tikki wouldn’t go for just any old macarons. 

Adrien shivered in spite of the warm sun beating down on him. What were the odds of Marinette knowing this? What were the odds of him having guessed right when he suspected her of being Ladybug when Plagg’s cheese-eating habits had gotten them into trouble? 

He watched her, smiling with sparkling blue eyes, her hair tied in very familiar pigtails. Coincidence or not? He could have brushed it off, but for that feeling in his heart. Something he’d ignored for so long. He liked Marinette. Really liked her. In a way that had confused him and made him question his feelings for Ladybug. What if they were the same girl? Wouldn’t it make sense for him to like her in both guises? She was the same person after all.

His mind went into overdrive as he analysed this. Could it really be his lady sitting there on the grass right next to him? He closed his eyes for a second as a familiar tinkling laugh reached his ears. He could have sworn that it was her, right there, he lived for making his lady laugh like that. It was his favourite sound in the whole world.

He didn’t even have to consider it to know that this realisation made him happy. Marinette being Ladybug would be the best thing to happen to him. 

But, wait, what exactly did it mean for them? Was the guy Ladybug was in love with Luka then? Hell, did he stand a chance, competing with someone as cool as him? And after all, if there was any chance of Marinette liking him like that, she would have realised it by now, right? After all they were pretty close. 

And then he remembered. That unfortunate meeting on her balcony, when he was looking for baby August’s pacifier. Her confession, her parents overhearing, the lunch at her house, him breaking her heart. What was he supposed to make of that? If she was Ladybug, it made no sense for her to say she was in love with Chat, right? Unless… she’d thought he was going to figure out her identity and had been looking for a way to distract him.

Oh, this was something his lady would do. And totally something Marinette would do, she tended to panic and do inexplicable things sometimes. It would explain why he’d seen her as Multimouse and Ladybug together. With all other kwamis being there that day, she could have easily used Rena Rouge’s kwami to create an illusion. To make sure he wouldn’t suspect her. 

Adrien realised his hand was shaking. It was all a bit too much. Especially since he had no way of talking to her right now. And he wanted to. Oh, it wasn’t the only thing he wanted to do either. She was so close, he could easily lean in and kiss her plump lips. How would she react if he did? 

He thought of the way she jumbled her words around him, how cute she was when she got awkward. He hadn’t really seen her act like that with anyone else. Could it be that…?

That’s when it really became too much. For him to consider the possibility of her liking him like that? His hand jerked the wrong way, which was unfortunate since it was the hand holding his drink. And all he could do was watch in terror as the drink shot up in a wide arc before falling all over Marinette.

Great, Adrien, he chided himself as he shot up. That’s the way you’d impress the love of your life. 

“Marinette, I’m so sorry!” He exclaimed as she stood up too, trying to shake off the droplets from her shirt and wipe the odd ones from her face. 

“Don’t worry, A-adrien,” she stuttered. “It’s not too much.” Here she was getting all flustered because of him, he registered somewhere at the back of his mind. She tried to brush it off, but it was actually too much. 

Without thinking he whipped off his shirt to mop up the mess. He didn’t think anything of it at first, as he used it to wipe the droplets from Marinette’s cheek. Until he noticed her looking at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. He heard a wolf-whistle behind him but didn’t pay it any attention. All that mattered was the girl in front of him, who had become crimson. 

“Oh dear,” he heard Alya mutter, but it sounded muted to his ears. Everything else was background. 

“Marinette, are you ok?” he asked as he moved to mop up the liquid that had by this time mostly soaked into her shirt but he still tried to limit the damage. 

“Your-your shirt,” she mumbled, as if in a daze. The way she reacted to him, the way he affected her, it all made his heart fill with hope. And made him bolder.

“Well, at least it won’t smell of Camembert this way,” he murmured, only for her ears. His eyes darted up to hers. It took her a second, then she looked like she was trying not to scream. But then a dramatic transformation took place right in front of his eyes. He saw determination fill her eyes as she grabbed his hand and dragged him away. 

“Where are you two going?” he heard Nino call after them. 

“To the bakery to clean up and give Adrien something to wear,” Marinette called back, without breaking her stride, sounding surprisingly confident.

Everyone seemed to buy it.

“You go, girl,” someone called but they both ignored it. Or pretended to.

As they left the park, they stopped by a tree and she leaned on it, taking deep breaths. As if the energy that had driven her burst that got them away from the others had left her. 

“Just give me a second. Oh God,” he heard her mutter.

“Why won’t you look at me, m’lady?” He decided that at this point he had nothing to lose. 

She practically whimpered. Huh? Was this because of the way he’d called her. Or something else entirely?

“You have no shirt,” she mumbled. He looked down at himself as if he’d forgotten that small detail. That’s when realisation dawned on him.

“Is me being shirtless bothering you?” He asked, not being able to keep the teasing out of his voice.

She squeaked. Bingo.

“Why, m’lady, this isn’t like you. You’re totally unaffected by Char Noir’s charm or appearance usually.” He’d tried very hard not to be offended by that fact but well, his self-confidence had taken a hit.

“I haven't exactly seen Chat shirtless. Oh dear, correction, I have now.”

“I would have tried this earlier if I knew it was all I needed to do to win you over.” 

“How exactly, with our suits?” she sounded distracted as she thought about this scenario. Good.

“Well, I would have thought of something. Like trying out if that zipper works after all,” he drawled and was rewarded with another squeak from her. 

“Again, what’s the problem? It’s me after all, just Chat,” he reminded her. 

“You’re no longer just Chat.” There was more than what she was saying in that statement. It took him a few moments to work it out. 

“Are you trying to tell me something, bugaboo? Don’t tell me you had a crush on me all along.”

This finally managed to give rise to a more lively reaction from her. She whirled around and pointed a finger at him.

“Don’t look so smug,” she warned him, but he couldn’t help it.

“So I’m right.” He leaned in and was delighted to see her pupils dilate. She enjoyed this. He didn’t want to tease her too much but it was so hard to resist it. 

“Ugh. Why am I not surprised? Of course you’d get all smug,” she huffed.

“I’m not smug. Just happy,” he shrugged.

“Same difference. If you could see your proud smile. If only I had a way of wiping it off your face,” she said. Then there was a calculating look on her face. He knew what this meant. She’d had an idea and it probably didn’t bode well for him.

Without preamble, he felt her hands on his back and the skin-on-skin sensation jolted him out of his complacency. What shocked him more was that she used him to prop herself up and kiss him. He had to give it to her, she knew how to take his breath away. Literally. 

He chased her lips with a second’s delay while his own arms held her close. It was impossibly sweet and he could have kept kissing her until the end of time if he hadn’t realised that they were basically in the middle of the street.

So reluctantly he pulled back and his heart almost stopped at how dazed she looked. She shook her head and cleared her throat.

“This didn’t work in the way I intended,” she said, an adorable blush on her cheeks. 

“You thought a kiss would make me less smug? Oh, m’lady, you should know me better than that,” he almost sang and smiled at the familiar eye-roll.

“You don’t seem concerned that anyone can see us here,” he said then. She looked away, as if suddenly embarrassed. What…?

“Oh, wait. You mean to tell me everyone but me knew?” he said as he realised the truth.

“Well. Kind of,” she admitted. Her eyes darted back to his and then she looked away again.

“And how can you be so unperturbed by the fact that you’re standing shirtless in the middle of the street,” she huffed. He barked a laugh.

“I’m a model, of course I don’t care.”

“How could I ever think of you as modest is beyond me. And here you are, acting like you know perfectly well that you look like a walking beachwear ad and are enjoying this fact.”

He froze for a second, confused. And then he laughed again.

“I didn’t mean it like that! I mean that in my line of work you leave modesty behind very early on. Changing clothes in front of people, people taking measurements of you. You know. So I don’t really care that I’m shirtless. I didn’t mean to sound conceited or something.”

“So you mean to say you’d never consciously flaunt your abs,” she said and it was obvious she was trying hard not to glance downwards. 

“Only to taunt you,” he said with a wink. This was so much fun. 

“This explains so much,” she mumbled. “Like the fact that you enjoy so much walking around in a skin-tight suit,” she said, smirking.

“Ah well, it didn’t do me a lot of good with you.” It hadn’t. Until now. 

“It’s not like I didn’t notice. I just didn’t want to give you the satisfaction of knowing that it affected me in any way. You would have probably called me shallow or something, anyway” she looked away again at this.

“What? No, never. I know looks aren’t a thing for you.” She shot him a look that made him reconsider this statement.

“It doesn’t hurt that you look like that,” she said, waving a hand in his direction. He chuckled. 

“Oh, m’lady, it’s good to know that you’re human after all. I’d been a bit worried about that,” he said, leaning closer to her. 

“Don’t push your luck,” she warned him.

“Come on, admit that you want to kiss me again.” She didn’t reply but she didn’t push him away either. He kissed her softly, as an apology for ruffling her feathers. It felt so good. 

“We should really go home so we can clean your shirt and get you something else to wear,” she said after that. 

“Do you have something for me?” He asked incredulously.

“Probably,” she said, smiling mysteriously. 

“It would be nice to have a shirt that doesn’t smell of Camembert,” he admitted.

Their eyes met. 

“This was what tipped you off, right?” She let out a short laugh. It was ridiculous, he agreed.

“Yeah. I can’t imagine someone else being so familiar with Plagg’s food preference.”

“Speaking of Plagg, where is he?” Marinette asked then, looking around as if she expected the kwami to float out of somewhere. 

“In my school bag,” Adrien said, groaning. “We have to go back quickly.”

Marinette had opened her purse only to look up at him with a frown. 

“Tikki must have sneaked in to join him,” she said. 

“Oh, since they did this behind our backs they might not be that mad at us for what happened, right?” he said hopefully. 

“I know for a fact that Plagg will regret missing it,” she said, laughing. 

“Definitely. One less opportunity to gloat,” he agreed. “What about the others? What are we telling them?”

“They’re probably using this time betting on what’s taking us so long.”

“How about pretending that nothing happened? How disappointed do you reckon they’d be?” 

“Ah, considering how oblivious they believe us to be, maybe they wouldn’t be that surprised. Now, how scandalised will they be if we arrived hand in hand though?” She asked with a wicked smile. 

“M’lady, I think I’m a bad influence on you.”

“Certainly, sneaky kitty. But I’m not complaining.” Their matching grins said this was something they agreed on.

**Author's Note:**

> I decided that there has to be a Shirtless Adrien tag, it's not fair otherwise. Seriously, they gave him abs in canon! It's not criminal for us to make the most of it, right?


End file.
